PCGamer Interview with Ion Hazzikostas on Patch 8.2

[LionSinMaikeru]

the team wants to be more open to implementing permanent RPG additions to the game and accepting that there will be some untidiness down the road as long as it's exciting for players.

So bring back the old talent system / completely revamp the current talent system, bring back glyphs to customize spells, let us transmog our characters how we want, bring back all the pruned abilities, and stop trying to homogenize everything.

[FelPlague]

I'll just copy paste what I said in the other thread about this:

This was a very good interview. I'm glad they acknowledged that Azerite armor deserved more testing and that new permanent additions to classes are in need. The only point of contention I had was the line:



I just can't agree. Random damage/healing procs that I have no control over and don't affect gameplay aren't fun customization options, especially when so many of them were class immersion breaking. Squirting water out of my rogue's shoulders at my enemies is not fun, interesting, or immersive. Legion legos are a better example of fun customization options, at least once you had all of them.

you do know many legion legendaries and past teir sets were literally JUST THAT right?
many past teir sets were literally just "x does more damage" or "Y crits more often' or "Z has chance to grant you haste"

that is literally what the game is about

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Failings of the Legion Artifact? WTF? The legion Artifact was amazing and it was good it was frontloaded. A person doing well was based on their ability to play their class. Now, its based on the gear combos they have, which is garbage.

there was no actual customization in the legion artifacts, that was one of the failings plus you very quickly unlocked all the major traits, like 3 weeks ish, then you just got the infinite trait

[Siraeyou]

"The Heart of Azeroth will continue to use Azerite Power for a progression path on the Heart itself that consists of both passive and active traits.
Active abilities will be actual new spells that are placed on the hotbar and have a meaningful change to your combat rotation immediately."

NO NO NOOOOOO. We DON'T need active traits.

This statement is directly contrary to what people were saying was bad about HoA vs Legion Artifacts. The majority of people seemed to like the addition of active traits that gave you a more direct impact to how you played back in Legion and hated that HoA is a stat stick that arbitrarily gives and denies passive traits on other armor slots based on level.

[FelPlague]

this is ridicoulous, EVERY expansion we get the same exuse, "the team feels, or the team learned" i mean like wtf?? and everytim they make matters worse, i mean like they are literally in control of what systems they craft and then they act surprised when it doesnt work, its like oh they are surprised 1+1 is actually not 3, but 2, like some shit is so apparent its like how the fk do u manage to still fk up

So are you saying people cant learn more then once?
because i seem to remember going through 14 years of school... Did i only learn once?
hmmmmm

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"Azerite gear" will still be the most boring as thing in this game and my number one reason why I no longer play it.

Give me back my Artifact Weapons! Call it "Azerite Weapons" I don't care, just give em back!!!!

t...that is what your getting, on your neck... artifact...

also what makes azerite gear boring to you? Why would you prefer for example teir sets.

[Eleccybubb]

So bring back the old talent system / completely revamp the current talent system, bring back glyphs to customize spells, let us transmog our characters how we want, bring back all the pruned abilities, and stop trying to homogenize everything.

The funny thing is this is a list of how much customisation has been gutted from the game over the years. Or a good chunk at least.

Enchants. Head, Shoulder, Legs, Gloves, Boots, Bracers and even Cloak. And even the Belt Buckle.

Reforging. And a good chunk of decent stats to go with it.

Sockets. Oh wait my bad they are part of the RNG Diablo 3 fiesta now.

Talents. Gutted down for no actual reason at all.

And there's probably a hell of a lot more I've missed out. It's actually disgusting how much customisation has been gutted to dumb the game down.

[FelPlague]

When flying came out in BC it was a chore to get. 5,000 gold didn't come easy and for many who got it, it WAS a grind to get. Later on as the game matured more people came into possession enough gold to get flying without much of a hassle. I didn't get flying until wrath and I started playing during BC. Ultimately i wish they never added flying as it really killed exploring and seeing people. People who just want to fly by shit and don't care about questing, exploring, leveling, you know RPG stuff in a mmoRPG can go play league of legends for all i care. The current system for obtaining flying is perfect. Less people flying = better. Less access to portals = better. Flying is a reward, not an entitlement. Need a portal, hey, actually TALK to people again and ask a mage. If you're to lazy to move your character in game i can only imagine how obese you are in real life. If you're to impenitent then again, go back to league of legends.

>hurrrr we need flying cause story sucks, questing sucks, game no fun
using a bandaid fix will never fix the root cause. go back to league of legends, fortnite, or minecraft.

5000 gold? wut....
i think you mean EPIC flying..
normal flying was MUCH easier then 5000g
literally EVERYONE had flying in TBC once they were able to get to the vendor for it (800g)
it cost less then epic mounting in vanilla, and tbc had that gold spike

[McNeil]

8.2 is a "very large content patch."

..... but is it actually good?

[Protocoaxke]

Exploring a world gets really boring when you've already explored it. The reasons I will be playing classic will not be for the world and exploration. It was great the first time, but I've spent so many years in those same zones that exploring them again is just going to be a waste of time.

Then i dont thank a Lived in world-MMORPG is the game for you my dude.

I played everquest for 15 years...and i still get enjoyment going around a corner a different way.- BUT an empty world is no fun to live/explore in. I will concede that for sure.

[Eleccybubb]

8.2 is a "very large content patch."

..... but is it actually good?

Exactly. Quality over quantity. Which BFA is doing the absolute opposite of. And it's driving people to other games.

[FelPlague]

Like someone else said, do it like FF14, Blizzard has taken tons of shit from other MMO's over the years and that would be a good one. Explore a zone completely and unlock flying for that character, it is not hard to understand or implement, and then disable flying in Warmode.

what happens when you reach the edge of a zone you hanvt explored?

dont you think it would be annoying to be flying through kalimdor then suddenly drop from the sky and die "FUCK i haven't finished feralas i forgot!"

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1) Azerite Traits are becoming a second talent tree basically, instead of the RNG grindfest we have now.

RNG grindfest we have now? what is RNG about azerite traits?

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Translation: If players weren't whiny little brats you could have more fun things.

Blizzard loves to do fun things, like give items effects, and have unique fights like the vehicle fights with lootship and flame leviathan.

then people complain out the ass till blizz decides not to do those again.
took all the way from wotlk to wod to try a vehicle fight again and again people complained...
the effects people complained "wernt balanced, and made some specs stronger then others!"

[Michavelli]

https://www.destructoid.com/blizzard...n-397543.phtml

Seems like they're still learning lessons. Wonder when they'll finish school.

Gold right here...

[MrFiddleswitch]

RNG grindfest we have now? what is RNG about azerite traits?

Well you currently have 3 choices -

1) random drops from raid hoping you get the piece that has the traits you want (RNG)
2) random spin for decent ilvl traits in a specific slot for low Residuum cost (RNG and a grindfest)
3) specific gear with the traits you want (not RNG, but the amount of Residuum needed turns it into a major grindfest)

In 8.2 all of those go away.

[Orwell7]

Hell, think about 2018's GOTY - God of War.
It's an RPG where you explore an open world - and you don't unlock flying, but have a shitload of PORTALS everywhere once you've finished the storyline.

I know this is not it's only merit, but damn, things like this makes a game "of the year". This should be basic knowledge dammit.

[Eleccybubb]

Well you currently have 3 choices -

1) random drops from raid hoping you get the piece that has the traits you want (RNG)
2) random spin for decent ilvl traits in a specific slot for low Residuum cost (RNG and a grindfest)
3) specific gear with the traits you want (not RNG, but the amount of Residuum needed turns it into a major grindfest)

In 8.2 all of those go away.

Exactly. The current system is partially reliant on RNG. It's so bloody annoying.

And I bet they will still find a way to intertwine RNG with the Azerite system when the changes are done.

[FelPlague]

Well you currently have 3 choices -

1) random drops from raid hoping you get the piece that has the traits you want (RNG)
2) random spin for decent ilvl traits in a specific slot for low Residuum cost (RNG and a grindfest)
3) specific gear with the traits you want (not RNG, but the amount of Residuum needed turns it into a major grindfest)

In 8.2 all of those go away.

1) so... like all raiding... the gear you get from the boss is random... sooo how is this unique to azerite gear? I wanted the ring from sindragosa and it took me like 9 weeks to get it... a boss dropping random loot is not new, thats a thing all the way back ot vanilla.
2) if you want to take that RNG that is your choice, you dont need to use that gamble
3) you mean about 5-8 weeks to get a GARUNTEED BIS OF YOUR CHOICE is somehow not good enough?

If we went back to vanilla and were told "do a thing for about 30 minutes a week, and in 5-8 weeks you will get an item you will not replace till next raid" we would LOSE OUR SHIT in hype.

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Exactly. The current system is partially reliant on RNG. It's so bloody annoying.

And I bet they will still find a way to intertwine RNG with the Azerite system when the changes are done.

oh look its the guy who says azerite traits are random, and they even got a piece that had no trait for their spec, and another trait that was for the other faction :P
yeah you are the best one to talk about azerite.

[Frosteye]

This interview shows how out of touch Blizzard is with their playerbase. Flying is NOT at a “Happy middle ground”.

If flying was at a happy middle ground, you would be able to unlock it after reaching max level, earning loremaster (quest completion for each zone), and a moderate gold cost.

[Musta]

Well.. finally some reason on ion's part. Lets wait for that info dump now

[Eleccybubb]

This interview shows how out of touch Blizzard is with their playerbase. Flying is NOT at a “Happy middle ground”.

If flying was at a happy middle ground, you would be able to unlock it after reaching max level, earning loremaster (quest completion for each zone), and a moderate gold cost.

Exactly.

They have absolutely no idea what an extreme is at all. And the hypocritical part about it is they've been doing extremes all this expansion so far.

[THEORACLE64]

8.2 is a "very large content patch."

..... but is it actually good?

I think the implication is there of it being big due to a lot of systematic changes. You can bet they’ll be responding to player feedback on the PTR more than they ever have done though.

[Cena]

can you name me a patch that added 4 sub zones?
also nice time machine you must have to know the future.

you are an ape minded person for making a conjecture of why I laughed. you can keep guessing why.